Guest blog by Bruce Tipton: Another beautiful weather day in central VA today as Bob & Bruce rode nearly 50 miles with around 4K of climbing once again. Lots of steep up/downs, (12%+ for you cyclists), with minimal time to recover. Low humidity and comfortable temps were helpful. Overall it was a challenging yet rewarding day in the saddle. We did meet an interesting lady poolside, post ride in Christiansburg who studies astrology & reads Taro cards. She is convinced that Bob’s vibes suggest that he will most likely abandon the ride midway through Kentucky. This preposterous notion was immediately rejected as hogwash, since Bob is strong as a mule-both in temperament & condition-and neither Bob nor Bruce place any credence in the mystical powers of these carnival sideshow acts. No disrespect to those who do, ... read more

Another wonderful day! I was joined by bicycle friends from San Diego, Bruce Tipton and Jim Robinson. Bruce’s brother Bernie, ( who drove Bruce up from his home at Smith Mountain Lake), joined us as well. We rode the first 28 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway which is closed to all commercial vehicles. We saw a few cars and motorcycles along the way but it was mostly us on our bicycles riding smooth pavement with panoramic views of the valleys far below us. To the north is the Virginia Piedmont region and to the south the Shenandoah Valley. Both sides of the Parkway are lined by thick forest! It must have been daunting for those early settlers who contemplated moving west. It must have taken incredibly hearty souls to climb up over those mountains. After ... read more

After a day of R &R, David, ( my host in Charlottesville) took me on his route to the bottom of the big climb up to Afton; the spot where the Blue Ridge Parkway begins. We parted as good friends and I sincerely hope we have an opportunity to enjoy each other’s company again. It was just a lovely day! My senses were filled with blue sky highlighted by white puffy clouds, the sound of birds rapturous over the smells and delights of a warm summer day and the lush green countryside passing slowly by. This is what it’s all about! There was more climbing today and the last five miles up to Afton very much reminded me of Mount Palomar. I don’t remember anything on the Pacific Route quite so challenging! Of course one seems ... read more

What a day! I think it was an early test! I barely passed! I’ll admit it wasn’t much fun today at all! Last night after looking at the weather at numerous sites, I could not find one that would help me out! They all said rain all day! Darn! After Gary, ( the fine fellow I stayed with last night) looked at my Adventure Cycling route, he convinced me I could cut off 10 miles by following another route. Since he was also a bicyclist, and he assured me the route wasn’t any more unsafe than the route I mapped out, I decided to follow his advice. BAD IDEA!!! For the first 20 miles, I found myself on a very busy two lane highway with bountiful rain! NO FUN! I even got passed by the most ... read more

Today started out poorly and really was a challenge most of the day. My fancy new Garmin 1030 would not work at all. Long story but the Garmin Guy basically told me the software was corrupted and the best option is to dump everything and start over!!! Well...... I had 78 days of carefully planned routes in there and no way to put them back in! The good news is that I loaded and threw in my old Garmin 1000 just in case! Yahoo! So I was back up and running! Tom, my new acquaintance and I rode all day together to Ashland in “on and off” rain! It was so hot and steamy that neither of us wore any rain gear with the exception of my shoe covers. The glasses got so fogged up we ... read more